A day after voters issued a scathing rebuke of his party,
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle halted progress on the state's
controversial $810 million passenger train — some of which had been
authorized only hours before.

"At the governor's request, I have asked contractors and
consultants working on the high speed rail project to temporarily
interrupt their work for a few days," Wisconsin Department of
Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi, said Thursday, a day
after the companies were informed of the decision.

"In light of the election results, our agency will be taking a
few days to assess the real world consequences, including the
immediate impacts to people and their livelihoods, if this project
were to be stopped."

The move comes days after it was revealed that transportation
officials signed a deal to commit the state to spending all of the
$810 million in federal stimulus money it had received for the rail
project. Many saw that deal as an effort by Doyle to tie the hands
of his successor, Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker, and force him
to complete the Madison-to-Milwaukee project.

Walker made stopping the project a key part of his campaign,
saying the train — though federally funded — would end up costing
state taxpayers millions of dollars a year to operate. He has often
said he would rather use the money to fund other transportation
projects, a move that would require congressional approval.

When told the news Thursday, Walker said he was glad to hear
it.

"We have been pursuing legal options that would give us the
right between now and Jan. 3 to try and slow down, if not stop the
train," he said.

Neither DOT nor the Doyle administration would release details
Thursday on the size of the contracts or the number of jobs
affected, but the State Journal was able to confirm at least two
contracts were worth more than $30 million combined.

Officials with Edward Kraemer & Sons, the contractor
handling grading, excavation and bridge construction of a two-mile
stretch in Jefferson County, received an e-mail Wednesday telling
them to begin work on the $28.5 million project. Three hours later
they received an e-mail rescinding the order.

No reason given

Kraemer Vice President Fred Lueck said Thursday that he had not
been told why the state pulled back.

"Literally, we haven't heard anything, other than to stop," he
said.

DAAR Engineering also confirmed Thursday that it had been told
to stop its $2.8 million project.

Ramesh Kapur, of Kapur & Associates in Milwaukee, would not
reveal the size of his firm's contract but said no employees are
affected by the hold order, which he described as "not that
unusual."

"All they (the state) said was to put it on hold and we said
‘OK." It happens a lot with government contracts, many projects
where they say stop for the time being until we work things out,"
he said.

Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak, said the rail company
"will certainly review the latest directive from the state and take
appropriate action."

The extent of Amtrak's participation has been in planning
expansion of the Hiawatha line and in assisting the state DOT with
grant applications and the like, Magliari said. He said so far
there have been "no hires" related to the project, but was not
familiar with the size of any existing contract.

Mayors support move

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said Thursday he thought it was
appropriate to "pause" the project, while a new administration
prepares to take office.

"I think Gov. Doyle respects the process and understands that a
new governor with a different point of view is taking over," he
said.

Cieslewicz said he thought the train project would ultimately
move forward.

"I hope so," he said. "I still believe we can, and should, do
this."

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost the governor's race to
Walker, said he agreed with Doyle's decision to temporarily stop
the process.

If the project is killed, the money would likely go to another
state or be used to pay down the federal deficit, he said.

"I am obviously in favor of the money going here," he said.

Thompson set precedent

Walker has said he wants to use the train money on roads and
bridges. That would require approval by Congress, which now has a
Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives and a strong
Republican minority in the U.S. Senate.

He said a precedent for such a maneuver was set in 1998, when
then-Gov. Tommy Thompson — with the help of Wisconsin's
congressional delegation — used $241 million meant for light rail
between Milwaukee and Waukesha County to fund the Marquette
Interchange.

"We're going to reach out to members like Jim Sensenbrenner,
Paul Ryan and Tom Petri to see if the same sort of thing could
happen," he said.

Developing a high-speed rail system is essential to Wisconsin's
economic future. Failure to do so will leave the state behind as
the national transportation infrastructure of the 21st century is
developed.

The $810 million Madison-to-Milwaukee passenger rail appears to
be dead after Gov. Jim Doyle Monday announced he was leaving its
fate in the hands of his successor, Gov.-elect Scott Walker — an
outspoken critic of the project who has repeatedly vowed to kill
it.

Gov.-elect Scott Walker sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Department
of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, outlining his opposition to
the $810 million Madison-to-Milwaukee passenger rail project and
expressing his wishes to spend that money on Wisconsin's roads.

Wisconsin's federal money for passenger rail may be diverted to
states like North Carolina instead.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood praised a crowd of North
Carolina transportation officials and leaders Wednesday morning for
their passenger rail planning efforts. And he mentioned two states
(Wisconsin and Ohio) may choose not to use high speed rail grants
they've already received, and that those grants would be
reallocated to states where the money can be spent on rail
projects.